The Best LED Grow Lights & How to Choose

What to look For in an LED Grow Light?

Since many of our first-time buyers experience difficulty choosing the best LED grow lights for their plant’s particular needs, our team of experts offer these tips for choosing LED grow lights. Here you`ll find all the vital information for making an informed choice and selecting the right product and model.

Consider What You`re Going to Grow

The first thing to do when choosing LED grow lights is to consider the crop you`ll be using them on. All products available on the market work for getting the plant to the flowering stage but certain ones are better suited for certain crops. The AdvancedLED diamond series is suitable for almost any crop and specifically good for growing cannabis on a full cycle. The specific models include the Diamond Series XML, the Diamond Series XTE and the Diamond Series EX-VEG. The specific wattage you should choose depends on how many plants you want to grow and the grow space itself.

Choosing the Right type of LED Grow Light

Making the best choice means that you have all the information and option available. After talking about how different lights are suitable for growing different crops it`s time to delve deeper into the types of grow lights.

For growing cannabis from a seed and nurturing it through to the flowering stage the best way is to get a full cycle LED light. However, you should keep in mind that in some cases you`ll only have to use it for the vegetative and blooming stages.

Grow lights for cannabis and specifically those that aid the plant during the flowering stage are available in different models, differing in the number of channel lights. A single channel light features on and off options, whereas the 2 channel models feature separate vegetative and bloom modes along with programming options, which can be found in all of the high-end AdvancedLED models. These models can be programmed with different light schedules to best cater to the plant`s need without you having to do it manually. Also, the light spectrum is customizable in order to provide light in the correct spectrum for the given growth phase. This is the latest stage in the development of high-end LED grow lights equipment that is setting the standard for the whole industry.

Another aspect in which lights differ is shape. There are models shaped as panels, bars, saucers and lightbulbs, suitable for every need depending on the grow space and area, which leads us to the next important question.

Taking into Account the Size of the Grow Space

In LED lighting bigger wattage doesn`t automatically translate into a bigger area coverage, as it is with regular HID, MH and HPS lights, but it can still serve as a good rough estimate. However, the most accurate metrics are the so called Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) and the Daily Light Integral (DLI) that serve to determine the number of lights to the power of lights ratio, but for simplicity and coherence we`ll use wattage as the metric to determine the light coverage area.

Plants and especially cannabis need most lighting during the flowering stage, so we`ll be using that as an estimate of how much area needs to be covered. A standard LED grow light must use more than 32 watts per square foot of grow space, but for optimum results it should be over 50 watts, up to 80 watts.

Consult with the following bullet points if you need a quick guide for calculating how many watts you need for a given grow area.

1 by 1 – 32 watts

2 by 2 – 128 watts

3 by 3 – 288 watts

4 by 4 – 512 watts

6 by 6 – 1152 watts

The Qualities of the Best LED Lights:

When shopping for LED grow lights, our experts recommend looking for products that have the following qualities:

High-Class Semiconducting Chip

This is the heart of any LED light and as such it needs to be of good quality. The chip converts electricity into light and affects the wavelength, so an otherwise good product that uses a poor quality chip is still not good. When making a purchase look for models that use at least 3 watt chips, anything less than that won`t provide the necessary luminosity.

Made in the USA

The most trusted manufacturers of the highest-rated colored LEDs include CREE, Osram, and LEDengin, which you find in American-made LED grow lights. At Advanced LED Lights, we ensure the LEDs in the lights we sell are from these US companies. In addition, we verify our brand name products lines have the highest BIN codes along with the color and power inputs of the LEDs used in the grow lamp.

The Diamond Series XML 150, Diamond Series XML 350, and Diamond Series XML 650 led grow lights use the powerful new 10w CREE XML2 LEDs that provides the optimal lighting environment for cloning, vegetative, and flowering plants.

Low Heat Output

LED grow lights with low heat output provide the best value in two essential ways:

Since lights that generate little heat prevent the environment from becoming too hot, the grow space requires less cooling than spaces where high heat output LED lights are in use.

High heat output LED lights tend to fade and burnout more quickly than cooler LED lights that reduce both replacement costs and the time spent installing the new lights.

At Advanced LED Lights, we do not develop LED lights that are overdriven. Instead, our team develops highly rated LED grow lights that optimize the health and beauty of your plants. All our LED lights generate less heat, less maintenance, and a longer life than other lesser quality products.

Easily Used

Since your time is valuable, the LED grows lights you choose need to be easily installed. In addition, you should be able to adjust the height of the lights quickly and simply, as well as their color ad intensity.

The Diamond Series, the Diamond Series XML, the Diamond Series XTE, and the Diamond Series EX-VEG are ready to go right out of the box. All feature easy-to-use color and intensity controls for your convenience.

Established Record of Success

At Advanced LED, we have proudly provided the highest quality LED grow lights for the past seven years. As a result of our superior quality products and service, we have thousands of happy customers throughout the world. Our goal is to provide lights that not only work great but also last a long time. We also encourage you to research the top led grow light reviews for 2017.

Return Policy and Product Warranty

Reputable LED light manufacturers such as Advanced LED provide a warranty that covers at least 10 years and we our expert team advises you to settle for nothing less. Grow lights are a durable piece of equipment and any issues you might encounter will most likely act up after at least a few years. This means that any warranty covering less than 5 years is not usable in most cases. Certain models even come with a special warranty that covers separate parts and pieces, along with a free return option.

How to Select the Best LED Grow Lights for Your Plants and Space

By following these simple steps, you will easily choose the LED lights to ensure a lush and healthy garden:

Measure your garden’s length and width.

On each of our product pages, you will find the coverage areas of each size light. To determine the number of lights you need, divide your space up into these coverage areas. Core coverage is the idea space for flowering plants, so use that metric for all full cycle or flowering gardens.

Are you replacing other grow lights, such as HPS, or would you like to have the same or higher intensity of a particular wattage of HPS? If so, exchange the lights using the following guide:

Is your garden for vegetative cycles only, flowering only or full cycle from seed to harvest?

The Diamond Series, Diamond Series XTE, and Diamond Series XML are all designed to grow plants from seed to full harvest, and they are optimized for flowering and fruiting plants.

If you want a focused vegetative led grow light that is all blue for green leafy plants to use in veg rooms only, the All Blue Extreme Veg light is your best choice.

By using this guide, you’ll choose the best LED grow lights for your indoor garden. We provide a 90-day, 100% risk-free guarantee of your satisfaction with our highly rated LED light products. If you have any warranty issues, we provide free replacement parts with the shipping paid by us within 24 hours.

If you have any questions, give our friendly Advanced LED Lights experts a call at 1-800-401-6307 or visit our contact page.

Conclusion

Full Spectrum LED grow lights are getting increasingly more sophisticated and setting the new lighting standard for the horticultural industry. We hope that you`ve found the information useful and can now make a more informed decision. The market is saturated with many products and brands but we believe that quality makes itself visible.